They RECREATED the ANCIENT RIVERS of IRAQ — and the DESERT Turned GREEN Again

Iraq's ancient marshlands are vanishing. The wetlands where civilization was born — where the Tigris and Euphrates created the Biblical Garden of Eden — were deliberately turned into toxic desert in less than a decade. 90 percent of the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East was drained as an act of ecological warfare. Half a million people lost their homeland. Millions of migratory birds lost their lifeline between Siberia and Africa. An aquatic paradise that had survived 5,000 years was erased.
Then Iraq attempted something unprecedented: the largest wetland restoration in human history. Engineers breached massive drainage canals, redirected ancient rivers, and began reflooding 20,000 square kilometers of dead salt flats — an area larger than Yellowstone National Park. They planted millions of reeds, built sophisticated water control systems, and invited displaced communities to return and rebuild their floating homes.
Today, water buffalo wade through channels that were dust two decades ago. Fish spawn in restored lagoons. Marsh Arab families are weaving reed houses their ancestors built for millennia. Over 250 bird species are returning to waters that nearly killed them. An economy supporting 250,000 jobs is rising from the marshes.
But the rivers that feed this miracle are controlled by Turkey and Iran — nations facing their own water crises who can turn off the taps at any moment. Climate change is accelerating evaporation. Political instability threatens funding. And every drop sent to the marshes is water denied to 40 million thirsty Iraqis.
Is this the greatest environmental comeback of the century, or humanity's last glimpse of a paradise we're about to lose forever?
This is the story of a nation racing against time to resurrect the cradle of civilization — and the impossible choices that will determine whether the rivers of Eden ever flow again.
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